Ladbrokes and Coral owner to pay ₤ 585m over bribery accusations

5 December 2023

ByEsyllt Carr
Business reporter, BBC News

Gambling giant Entain will pay HMRC ₤ 585m to settle over bribery claims relating to a Turkish firm that it previously owned.

The settlement was approved by the Royal Courts of Justice in a hearing on Tuesday.

Entain, which owns Ladbrokes, will likewise make a charitable contribution of ₤ 20m and pay towards the expenses of the case.

Its chairman included that the group had "exceptionally altered" considering that the sale.

The payments become part of a deferred prosecution arrangement (DPA), that will be made in instalments over the next four years.

The contract allows a prosecution to be suspended for a defined period supplied the organisation meets particular specified conditions.

DPAs can be used for fraud, bribery and other economic criminal activity. They use to organisations, never individuals. The DPA is one of the most significant corporate criminal settlements ever reached in the UK and the first for the CPS.

Entain will likewise make a contribution of ₤ 10m towards the expenses incurred by HMRC and the Crown Prosecution Service throughout the case.

The examination by HMRC included a Turkish-facing company that was offered by the Group in 2017. The probe involved the activities of previous staff members and former 3rd party suppliers.

In specific, it was looking at claims that Entain, which was then referred to as GVC, failed to have sufficient procedures in place to prevent bribery.

Ever since, Entain says the group has carried out an extensive review of its anti-bribery policies and treatments.

In a declaration, Barry Gibson, Entain's chairman, said: "this promotion code is the final action in a procedure that has hung over our business because HMRC released its examination into an organization that was offered by a previous management team six years ago."

"We have actually co-operated extensively and proactively at every phase of the procedure which, I am happy to say, has been identified by the yohaig code Court," he included.

"Entain has now essentially and profoundly altered. We can now focus on the future."

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